There is something so divine about a really great bread. A crusty exterior and a chewy tender interior is what you want in a good loaf of bread. It is surprisingly easy to make with four ingredients; flour, water, yeast and salt.
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The key to a tasty bread is patience. It’s all about waiting and letting the dough ferment a little bit in order to develop more flavor. Moisture is also key, so what you bake the bread in makes the difference between a good loaf of bread and a great loaf.
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Most of us don’t have ovens that control moisture, but by baking bread in a Dutch oven, a baking cloche, or a large pot with a lid, the moisture can be kept at the right level to allow the bread to bake properly. Once you have this basic technique down, which is pretty simple, you can begin to experiment with different flours and additional ingredients like dried fruit, nuts, and olives.
- 3 cups white bread flour, or 2½ cups white bread flour and ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 1½ cups water (more if needed)
- In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt.
- Add 1½ cups water, and stir with a wooden spoon until blended, the dough will be shaggy and sticky (add additional water if the dough is really dry and not holding together).
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, foil or a lid.
- Let the dough sit for at least 15 hours and up 24 hours, at a warm room temperature, about 70 degrees. The dough will be covered with bubbles.
- Using your fingers, loosen the dough from the bowl and fold it over on to itself a few times.
- With floured hands, shape dough into a ball and pinch the seams together.
- Heavily coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, put dough seam side down on towel.
- Using a very sharp knife, make 3 slashes across the dough.
- Dust with more flour and cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours.
- When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size.
- Thirty minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 500 degrees.
- Put a heavy 6 to 8 quart covered pot in oven as it heats.
- When dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from oven.
- Gently slide your hand under the dough and carefully set it into the pot.
- Cover with the lid place in oven, reduce heat to 450 degrees and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is lightly browned.
- Cool on a rack.
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Enjoy!
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I live in Vail, was the bear in the crabapple tree taken in Avon?:
Hi Henrietta- We saw this bear in Aspen. We also ran across four other bears! It was crazy to see them so up close. Vail was insanely beautiful! Lucky you who gets to live there!
Eva